Horsham YMCA 0-4 Crowborough Athletic 


Crowborough came into the match after nicking a late 2-2 draw with Bexhill United last week and YM went down to league leaders Hassocks. After today’s victory Crowborough moved up to third in the SCFL Premier Division. 

The ground staff at the Herbert Direct Stadium worked wonders to get the game on. 


The first half was dominated by the visitors and on the eighth minutes they had a one on one with the keeper, but Jordan Brown made a great save. 

As the game went on the pitch become sticky and squelchy which made it difficult for both sides to play it on the ground. 


After 19 minutes, YM had their first decent effort, they attacked down the right, the ball came to Alfie Jones who struck it first time. The ball flew wide of the left upright, but it showed that YM were making opportunities. 


On 23 minutes Horsham YM had a corner, it was hit high and curled towards the goal. YM players attempted to get it over the line but somehow it was kept out, YM were claiming a goal but the lineman disagreed. Marney and Smith-Joseph combined well together for the home side but were feeding off scraps all game. 


As halftime approached, YM’s defence lost concentration and on the 42nd minute the Crows went ahead again. Grant lost possession. Crowborough came forward and had a shot parried by Brown, the ball bounced a metre out and Harry Forster tapped home, Alfie Lambden assisted. Just two minutes later Crowborough doubled their lead. Forster scored his second of the game after the shell shocked YM left a gap at the back, with Connor Pring assisting. 


The second half kicked off in much the same vein. Crowborough came forward and after 50 minutes were awarded a penalty. Harry Forster took responsibility and completed his hat trick by smashing the penalty into the back of the net. 


The game was decided in the last five minutes of the first half and the first ten minutes of the second half. This time it was the skilful Marcus Goldsmith who made it 4-0 on the 54th minute, he was played the ball by Harry Forster and finished well, putting the game out of reach for YM. 


YM’s manager, Liam Giles spoke to Beth Chapman after the game;

“The first word that springs to mind is embarrassed. Today we were lucky to go in two nil down (at halftime), it could have been 4 or 5. It was unacceptable, people giving up and not running. If there’s much more of that going on there will be changes. We changed shape at half time, it didn’t really work. Mentality was all wrong. We’ll now work towards Newhaven.”


The GWS Man of the Match went to the blond bomber, Harry Forster for his all round contribution and of course his hat trick. He is a very important player for a strong and well organised Crowborough Athletic team. 


Next up for Crowborough is an away Quarter Final match against Eastbourne United in the Peter Bentley Challenge Cup. Horsham YMCA are at home to their old friends Newhaven.